Man sentenced in purchase of bullets used in killing rampage

ALLENTOWN, Pa. (AP) — A man accused of buying the bullets another man used to kill three people at random has been sentenced to 12 to 40 years in prison.

Robert Jourdain, 22, of Easton, apologized Monday as he was sentenced in Lehigh County Court after pleading guilty last month to conspiracy to commit third-degree murder.

Prosecutors said Jourdain bought ammunition used by Todd West to kill two people in Allentown and one in Easton in July 2015. West is serving three consecutive life sentences. Kareem Mitchell, 24, of Newark, New Jersey, accused of driving the car from crime scene to crime scene, is in Lehigh County Prison awaiting trial.

West, 24, of Elizabeth, New Jersey, shot and killed Francine Ramos, 32, and Trevor Gray, 22, while they were riding in a car in Allentown on July 5, 2015. West said he shot Kory Ketrow, 22, in Easton, about an hour earlier because Ketrow looked "tired." At his sentencing in October, West said he had no good reason for the slayings, "I just wanted to kill them."

Jourdain, wearing shackles and turning to face the courtroom audience, apologized to the victims' families, saying "I never once thought this was cool, that it was all right."

"I'm not a perfect person. I made a mistake," he said.

Ketrow's father, Richard Bader, told Jourdain that he had taken away from the community a kindhearted young man who wanted only to help others. He said he doesn't believe Jourdain is evil, but he can't understand what was going through the defendants' minds during the random slayings.

"To me, it seems like you had no regard for life whatsoever," Bader said.

Gray's father, Joseph, said his son was a talented singer who was working his way through college.

"He was a very outstanding young man who will be missed," Gray said. "This is not only a loss to our family but to the community and society at large."

Defense attorney Christopher Shipman said his client had a tumultuous upbringing but did better when supervised by juvenile probation officers.

"That shows he can change," Shipman said. "He will come out of prison young enough to productively enter society."